Thursday, April 25, 2013

Shards To A Whole: Chapter 70

McGee centric character study/romance. Want to start at the beginning? Click here.

Chapter 70. Arizona

In retrospect, driving through Arizona, at night, in a
Porsche, with no lights on was probably a bad idea.

But the moon is edging toward full, the stars are a million
miles closer out here than they are back in DC and with the headlights on you
just can’t see the desert all that well. It’s more than light enough to drive,
and he’s got the running lights on so other drivers (not that there are any)
can see him well enough.

The only good luck on this was that when he saw the flashers
in his rearview mirror that he had only been going ten over the limit.

The cop who pulled them over looks to be, maybe, and Tim
thinks this is a generous assessment, seventeen-years-old.

This is probably what he looked like to Tony when they first
started working together.

He rolls down the window and sees the cop, Jeffery,
according to his name tag, but for some perverse reason Tim’s thinking of him
as Opie, do a double take. Whatever he was expecting to see in that car, it
wasn’t Tim and Abby.

He stammers a little. “License and registration.”

Tim hands them over, and Opie checks them out. “Excuse me, sir,
do you know how fast you were going?”

“Eighty-five.”

Opie blinks, not expecting that. “And did you know you were
driving with no lights?”

“Yes. You can see better without them.”

Apparently that also wasn’t the answer he was expecting. He
stares at the car, sees Abby grinning at him, and says, “Can I check your
trunk?”

Tim sighs. “No.”

Opie’s not happy about that.

There’s nothing illegal in the trunk. But he doesn’t want
this wet behind the ears noob going through his computers or sex toys. Let
alone having to deal with getting everything repacked.

He didn’t bring his badge or gun with him. It’s a crime to
use his badge for anything other than ID, like to try and get free stuff, and
he’s sensitive to how people react to seeing it, so unless he’s on duty
he doesn’t keep it on him.

“Do you have a computer in your car?”

That also threw Opie—Jeffrey—for a loop.

“Yes.”

“Go onto the Federal Agent Database. I’m Special Agent Tim
McGee, NCIS, badge number,” and he rattled off the digits.

“If you’re a Federal Agent, where’s your badge?”

“Not here, for the same reason you don’t get to look in my
trunk.” Okay, sure that reason would be, I’m on vacation, but he doesn’t much
mind if Opie thinks it’s some sort of special op.”

“Who’s she?”

“Abby Sciuto. I don’t have a badge, but I’m in the Federal Employee
Database as well, S-C-I-U-T-O, NCIS, Lead Forensic Specialist.”

Opie heads over to his computer and twenty minutes later, he
comes back. “Okay, you two check out. Please, turn your lights on.”

“Fine.” Tim flicks them on.

“You can go.”

And he drove off.

“Someone better be dead,” Tim said as one lone eyeball opened
just enough to confirm that yes, Tony was calling him at 5:22 in the morning,
or, more relevant, nine minutes after he and Abby went to bed.

“That someone’ll be you if I don’t have an answer for Vance
immediately as to why a LEO out of Dolan Springs, AZ was looking you up last
night.”